Independent through work

Full time work

You may be independent if you support yourself through full time paid work for at least 18 months within any 2 year period. You don’t need to work for 18 consecutive months, or in the same job. Full time work is 30 hours per week on average throughout the 18 months.

If you don’t consistently work 30 hours per week, you can average your hours of work over a maximum of 13 week periods.

Unable to live at home

You may be independent if you can’t live at home due to extreme circumstances. This includes family breakdown, violence, or serious risk to your safety and wellbeing. A social worker will assess this if you’re under 18.

Income and assets test

Tests that apply to you

Your rate will be based on the test that results in the lowest payment rate. Your rate may change each fortnight.

In 2017, we assess your parents’ or guardians’ taxable income from the 2015-16 tax year.

How your parents’ or guardians’ income for tax year 2015-16 affects your payment

Parental income

Effect on payment

$51,903 or less

No change, however it may still be affected by the maintenance income test.

More than $51,903

Reduced by 20 cents for every dollar over. This depends on the number of children in your family pool.

You can use the online rate estimator to work out how much you may get based on your family circumstances.

We look at the income of the parents or guardians you normally live with, or last lived with, even if you don’t live with either parent or guardian now. This includes step parents only if you normally live with them.

Parental income includes:

combined parental taxable income

tax free pensions and benefits

fringe benefits

income from outside Australia

reportable superannuation contributions, and

total net investment losses such as negative gearing losses

If your parent or guardian pays child support, we remove it from their parental income.

The family pool

The family pool refers to the dependent children in your family who may affect your payment rate.

Your parents’ or guardians’ income may affect the amount you get. Income earned by other dependent children 21 or younger, may also affect it.

When there is another dependent child in your family pool, your payment could increase. If a dependent child leaves your family pool, your payment may decrease.

Changes to income

Your parents or guardians must tell us if there are any changes to their income. Sometimes, changes to their income can mean your payment rate changes. Your payment may also change if your siblings’ circumstances change.

Where there’s been a change to your parents’ or guardians’ income, the parental income test can be worked out on their income for the current tax year. For example, if you study in 2017 and their income has significantly changed, we may use their income for the 2016-17 tax year.

Maintenance income test

If you’re dependant, we consider the amount of child support or voluntary maintenance your parents or guardians get for you to work out your payment.

Your parents or guardians need to tell us about any voluntary maintenance they get if we haven’t done a child support assessment. If we have, they won’t need to supply these details again. We’ll use information we already have to adjust your payment.

Maintenance income can include:

cash, lump sum payments and non-cash amounts

utilities charges

school fees and other payments made on behalf, or for your benefit

You may be exempt from this test if one of your parents or guardians are permanently blind, and get:

Age Pension

Disability Support Pension, or

a Department of Veterans’ Affairs service pension or income support supplement

The maintenance income free area is the amount of child support or voluntary maintenance your parents or guardians can get before the maintenance income test affects your payment.

The number of siblings you have and the payments they get can affect this amount.

Maintenance income free area per year

Your parents or guardians get maintenance for:

The maintenance income free area is

Just you

$1,587.75

You and other siblings who get Youth Allowance, ABSTUDY Living Allowance and School Fees Allowance Group 2

$1587.75 plus $529.25 for each sibling. Then divide the total by the ­number of siblings

You and other siblings are eligible for Family Tax Benefit or Assistance for Isolated Children Additional Boarding Allowance

$529.25

Example of maintenance income free area calculation

In Jeff’s family, he is 1 of 3 children who all get ABSTUDY Living Allowance. His parents get maintenance income for all 3 children.

The maintenance income free area for the first sibling is $1,587.75. We add $529.25 for each of the other 2 siblings. We divide the total $2,646.25, by the number of siblings, being 3. So, Jeff’s maintenance income free area is $882.08.

Balancing your Youth Allowance payments

We use your parents’ or guardians’ child support assessment or voluntary maintenance to estimate your annual maintenance income. This can change throughout the year.

At the end of the financial year, we’ll balance your payments based on the actual maintenance income they got for you.

We’ll let you know if we have paid you too much or not enough.

Residence rules

What may be different

If you’re a non-protected Special Category visa holder, and have lived in Australia for at least 10 years without a break since 27 February 2001, you may be able to get Youth Allowance for up to 6 months. This can only happen once.

If you’re a student, we’ll ask for details about your future study intentions. We’ll ask you 4 weeks before your course finishes. You can tell us using your Centrelink online account through myGov or the Express Plus mobile app.

Waiting periods

You may need to wait longer depending on:

how much money you have

why you don’t have a job

Ordinary waiting period

You may need to wait for 1 week for your payments to start. We call this an ordinary waiting period.

Income maintenance period

We can’t pay you when you have received some other form of payment from your former employer when that job ended. This could be a payment for sick leave, annual leave, termination of employment or redundancy.

Reducing your study load

You must tell us if your study load reduces below 75%. This usually means we can’t pay you a student payment.

If you decide to drop a subject

If you decide to study less than 75% it means you’re part time. In most cases you can’t get Austudy or Youth Allowance as a student.

Austudy students

You might not have a choice about reducing your study load. For example, you might:

have a timetable clash

fail a subject you need to pass to get into the one you want to do

Your course provider might:

cancel one of your subjects

have no vacancies in one of your subjects

reduce your study load for academic or vocational reasons

If your study load goes under 75% and you didn’t have a choice about it, you may stay on Austudy. You’ll need to:

give us a letter from your academic registrar or similar that includes 1 of the reasons above, and

keep a study load of at least 66%

If your study load falls because of the institution’s academic or vocational decision, we can only keep your payments going for half the academic year. After this you’ll need a study load of at least 75% to stay on Austudy.

Austudy students with disability

If you have a substantial physical, psychiatric or intellectual disability, you may not be able to study full time or finish in the allowable time.

You may still be eligible for Austudy if you do at least 25% of the full time study load.

You need to give us proof from a medical practitioner who specialises in the area of your disability. This must be in writing and show you’re unable to study full time.

Youth Allowance students

If you can’t study full time for a while because you’re sick or injured you may still be eligible for Youth Allowance.

You’ll need to give us a medical certificate that shows you can return to full time study when you’re better.

Allowable time for study

Allowable time limits

If you run out of allowable time, your student payment will stop.

We base your allowable time on the minimum time it normally takes for you to complete your course as a full time student. For example, if you’re studying a 3 year degree, we expect you to complete it in 3 years.

If you’re in year 12, you have 2 attempts to complete it.

If you’re studying honours, we allow you an extra year to finish.

Normal length of the course

Allowable time

1 year or less

up to twice the course length

more than 1 year and at least 1 subject in the current year is a year long subject

the minimum time for the course plus 1 year

more than 1 year with no year long subjects

the minimum time for the course plus 1 semester

Previous study without Youth Allowance

If you start your course before claiming Youth Allowance, any previous study you have done for this course will count in your allowable time. It doesn’t matter if you were getting a payment or not.

Studying more courses at the same level

You may be able to do a second course at the same level as part of an Activity Agreement, even if you didn’t complete your first course. We base your allowable time on your second course.

If you completed previous study, you don’t need an Activity Agreement to do more courses at the same level, as long as you complete your previous courses.

Circumstances beyond your control

If you can’t complete the course within the allowable time and it’s beyond your control, you may still be considered to be making satisfactory progress depending on your situation.

Circumstances beyond your control include if you:

are, or have been, disabled by an illness or other medical condition

have suffered family trauma

have experienced a natural disaster

had to relocate and repeat part of a course, or start again, because of education institution rules

had to care for a family member, or

have something else that stops you completing your study within the allowable time

If you think there’s something we need to take into account, contact us.

Distance and online education for tertiary and secondary students

Distance education and eligibility

You may be a distance education student if you don't study on campus or have face to face classes.

Distance education courses are online, by correspondence, or both. You can study these courses through:

the Open Training and Education Network (OTEN)

Open Universities Australia (OUA)

an Australian university

TAFE

a private provider, or

a secondary school

Eligibility for student payments is the same whether you study through distance education or on campus. You must have a full time study load to get Youth Allowance, Austudy or ABSTUDY Living Allowance.

Study loads

Each institution measures study loads differently. You need to check your institution's website or handbook to find what they consider a full time study load. Study loads for distance education courses use a unit weighting measurement or the total hours for your course.

Example 1 - total hours

Lily’s institution told her the course she’s studying needs 200 hours to complete. A full time study load at her institution is 20 hours per week. Therefore, her course would take 10 weeks to complete if she has a full time study load: 200 ÷ 20 = 10.

We assess Lily’s student payment on these hours - not how many hours she actually spends studying.

Students must study at least 75% of the full time study load to get a payment. For Lily, that’s 15 hours a week.

If your institution uses a credit point weightings system, you need to work out if your units add up to a full time study load.

Nick’s institution considers 500 credit points as a full time study load for a semester. Nick needs to study at least 375 credit points to meet the 75% study load requirement to get his student payment.

In semester 1, Nick is studying 3 units. 2 of these units have a weighting of 120 credit points each and 1 unit has a weighting of 100 credit points.

120 + 120 + 100 = 340 credit points

As this is less than 375 credit points, Nick doesn’t meet the 75% study load requirement. Nick must tell us about this as soon as possible to avoid a debt. There may be another payment for Nick. He should check our Payment and Service Finder.

Submission of assignments

Some institutions need you to submit a certain number of assignments within a set period.

Many distance education courses are self-paced. But, to keep your student payment, you must show you’re progressing through your course in a satisfactory timeframe. We’ll check with your institution to see if you submit your assignments.

Example

Tom’s course has 10 assignments to complete over 40 weeks. He needs to submit one every 4 weeks. Tom gets a student payment from us. After 12 weeks of study, Tom didn’t submit any assignments.

To avoid a debt, Tom needs to contact us as soon as he decides he’s withdrawing or is unlikely to complete his course in the timeframe. Tom may need to pay back the student payment he got from us

Open Training and Education Network (OTEN)

To get a student payment while studying through OTEN, you must enrol in an approved course and do an equivalent full time study load (EFTSL). OTEN will generally only enrol you in 1 or 2 units at a time and measures the units in hours.

You’re full time with OTEN if you’re doing 16 hours of course work per week.

For example, if you enrol in 1 unit that normally takes 48 hours of course work to complete, you must finish the unit within 3 weeks of starting it: 48 hours ÷ 16 hours = 3 weeks.

OTEN provides a flexible course model to encourage you to complete courses at your own pace with no penalty for not completing work. However, if you’re getting a payment from us, you should complete your study in the normal time it takes to complete the course. In the example above, you’d need to finish your unit within 3 weeks and start the next unit.

Open Universities Australia (OUA)

OUA have many different types of courses. Generally courses at OUA have a full time study load of 2 subjects per study period or session. Single units normally have a credit weighting of 0.125 equivalent full time study load (EFTSL).

Some OUA courses have 4 normal study periods of 13 weeks. If this is your course, you must do at least 2 single or 1 double open learning unit in any study period. This should be 0.250 EFTSL.

If you’re studying an OUA course which has 2 normal semesters, you must be studying at least 0.750 EFTSL. You must be studying full time to get your payment.

Example 1

John is doing a bachelor course through OUA and wants to get Austudy. John enrols in 2 study periods and is studying 0.250 EFTSL in each study period. John is a full time student for Austudy for the 2 study periods.

Example 2

Alice is getting Youth Allowance and doing a bachelor course through OUA. Alice enrolled in 2 single open learning units, with a combined credit weighting of 0.250 EFTSL, in a single study period. Alice decides half way through the study period to stop studying 1 of the units. Her study load reduces to 0.125 EFTSL. Alice has no special circumstances stopping her from completing the unit. Alice needs to tell us about this change or she may need to pay back her Youth Allowance.

Example 3

Ben is getting Youth Allowance and doing a bachelor course through OUA. The course only has 2 normal semesters for Ben to enrol in. This is different to some other courses which have 4 study periods. Ben needs to study 0.375 EFTSL in each study period, or 0.7500 EFTSL if he enrols for the whole year, to continue getting Youth Allowance.

Managing your payment

Change of circumstances

Tell us within 14 days

You need to tell us about any changes to your circumstances within 14 days. This includes your parents’ or guardians’ and partners’ circumstances. If your siblings’ circumstances change, get them or your parents to update their details.

If you don’t tell us, it may affect your payment and you may need to pay back money we’ve paid you. If you deliberately don’t tell us the changes, we could charge you with fraud. Read more about how to avoid committing fraud.

It’s important you tell us about any changes. Some common examples are listed below.

Study

Tell us if you:

change your course

study at a different institution

reduce your study or training workload

stop studying

stop being a full time Australian Apprentice

don’t start your course within 3 weeks of it starting

Employment

Tell us if you:

change your work hours, start or stop work

change your income or assets

get income from outside Australia

change jobs

get compensation, leave or redundancy payments

start or stop getting other financial help to complete your course or apprenticeship

If you’re reporting income to us for the first time, contact us and we’ll set up self service options for you.

Personal

Tell us if:

you change your address or contact details

you move back to your parents' or guardians’ home

you marry or start living with your partner

you separate from your partner

you’re sick or injured and can’t continue your study

your dependent child or immediate family member dies

you have a child or take care of a child who is 16 years of age or younger

you move into or out of long term care, like a nursing home or hostel

you’re in lawful custody

you start or stop getting a pension, benefit or allowance

your dependent child who is 16 years of age or younger leaves home, or gets a pension, benefit or allowance

your dependent child is in custody on remand, in a psychiatric institution or in prison

Annual parental income test reassessment

To pay you the right amount, we reassess your payment based on your parents’ or guardians’ income each year.

You’ll get a letter from us in September or early October if we need your parents or guardians to complete this reassessment. Give them the letter straight away so they can give us the information we need.

If your parents or guardians need to complete the reassessment and don't do this by the due date on your letter, we’ll stop your:

If you haven't lodged your tax return

If you haven't lodged your 2016-17 tax return by the date in your child’s letter, you still need to do the reassessment online and provide an estimate of your income. Once you lodge your tax return and get your Notice of Assessment, you need to tell us within 21 days from the date the Notice of Assessment was issued. Your child will need to submit this document online.

If your income goes up

If your income goes up:

more than 25% in a year, your child’s payment may be reduced from
1 October of that year

25% or less, your child’s payment may be reduced from 1 January the next year

you get a job that will last for at least 6 weeks and is likely to reduce your income support payment by at least 50%

you get a job and don't have enough money to pay for something you need to start it, or

you or your partner did work that reduced your income support by at least 50% and your employer hasn’t paid you for it

Mobility Allowance Advance

You can only get one advance in 12 months.

The amount of the advance payment is equal to 13 fortnightly payments of Mobility Allowance.

Your normal Mobility Allowance stops until the end of the time the advance covers. This can be up to 6 months. We may restart your normal payments earlier if you start being eligible for a higher rate.

You can’t increase or decrease your repayment amounts.

How to apply

It's best to apply online or with the Express Plus mobile app.

When you apply you must tell us your income and expenses. We need these to check if you can repay us.

Online

If you already have a myGov account

If you have a Centrelink online account

To do your business online, you need a myGov account and a Centrelink online account.

If you don't have a myGov account, create one today. Once you have created your account, you can link it to your Centrelink online account. Watch the video and read more on how to link your online account to myGov.

If you go on weekly payments you can’t get immediate or urgent payments.

How it works

You need to talk to us to get weekly payments.

If we say yes, your next income support payment and any Rent Assistance will be half what we would pay you for the fortnight. The amount depends on your income, assets and any automatic deductions. You get the other half 7 days later.

Back to normal

When things improve, you go back to fortnightly payments. You can ask to do this any time.

Apply

Call us on your regular payment line if you want to apply for weekly payments.

Review

You can’t be on weekly payments for longer than you need to.

After 6 months of weekly payments we talk to you to check if you still need them. We do this in person or by phone. We ask about:

your budget

your money problems, and

where you’re living

If you stay on weekly payments, we do another review 12 months later.

Income reporting

Once you start working you can’t get weekly payments. We automatically adjust your payments back to fortnightly.

Types of reporting

When you start getting a payment, we’ll tell you when you need to report your and your partner’s earnings. There are 2 types of reporting.

Scheduled reporting

Most people need to report every 14 days. We call this your reporting period. We’ll tell you when your reporting period starts and ends. You must report your and your partner’s income for the most recent reporting period.

Unscheduled reporting

If we don’t give you a reporting period, you must still tell us if your or your partner’s income changes. You must tell us about any changes within 14 days. You can only tell us about your income changes by calling us on your usual payment line.

What to report

We need to know how much you and your partner earn. This is so we can pay you the right amount. If your earnings change, even by a small amount, you need to tell us.

Keep records

Standard pay rate

Employers will include the date, hours you worked, and your hourly rate on your payslips.

If they don’t, divide the gross pay on your payslip by the hours on your payslip. This gives you your standard hourly rate unless some hours were at another pay rate. Ask your pay office if it’s not clear.

Add up the hours you worked in the reporting period and multiply the total hours worked by your standard hourly rate. This gives you your income to report unless some hours were at another pay rate.

Find out more about payslips and what your employer should include on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Other pay rates

Overtime and penalty work have different hourly pay rates.

There are ways to help you keep track of when you work:

write down your overtime or penalty hours every time you work - don’t try to remember it at the end of the reporting period

keep a record of the roster for the fortnight you work if you can

Once you have these details there are ways to help you keep track of your pay rates during a reporting period:

find out from your pay office what your hourly overtime or penalty pay rate is

multiply your pay rate by the number of hours you worked at that rate - this will give you the total amount you earned

add this amount to the total you earned at your standard pay rate

Leave payments

If you take leave from work you need to report how much of your income in the reporting period was:

paid leave

hours you worked, including any paid sick leave hours

If you don’t have mutual obligation requirements, you have 14 days to tell us about leave earnings at a different rate from your normal wages.

You also need to tell us if your employer pays you for leave you built up but didn’t take time off for. We count this differently from other leave.

Job income – fixed unit rates

Some people get a set amount for each item of work they finish rather than an hourly rate.

If you get a fixed unit rate, you can keep track of your total income rates during a reporting period by:

When to report

If you have scheduled reporting

Each time you put in a report we’ll tell you what your next reporting date is. Report by 5 pm on your reporting date to make sure we can pay you on time.

You can’t report before your reporting date unless it’s on a public holiday. We’ll tell you if you need to report on a different day.

If you report late

If you report late, your payment could be late. You can report online up to 13 days after your reporting date. If you’re more than 13 days late, you need to call us or visit a service centre.

If you don’t report your income

If you have mutual obligation requirements and don’t report how much you earned, we won't pay you.

If you don’t have a regular reporting schedule

When you first get a payment we’ll tell you when you need to report. If we don’t give you a regular reporting schedule, you must tell us within 14 days if you or your partner’s income changes. The only way you can tell us about changes is by calling your usual payment line.

Debt

If you report the wrong amount of income or don’t tell us about changes of circumstances, we may pay you too much. This means you’ll have a debt to pay back.

Other support services

Online review of study details

We’re committed to delivering a fair and accurate welfare system. Online reviews support this. They make sure we have the right information about your study details. If asked, you must complete the review to make sure you’re getting the right payment.

Completing the online review of study details

Throughout the year, we may send you letters asking you to complete an online review of your study details. You must complete the online review by logging into your Centrelink account through myGov or using the latest version of the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. You need to complete the online review by the due date stated in your letter.

Penalties for not completing the review

Your payment will be suspended if you don’t complete the online review by the due date. If your payment is suspended, you can still complete the review and, if eligible, have your payment restored. However, if you don’t complete the review within 14 days of your payment being suspended, your payment will be cancelled.

Providing correct information

You must provide correct information when you complete the online review so we can properly assess your study details. If you don’t tell us when your study details change, or about other changes to your circumstances, you may be overpaid and get a debt. If you deliberately provide false or misleading information about changes to your study details, you may be committing fraud.

How it helps you

Working Credit lets you earn more before we start to reduce your income support payment.

We use each Working Credit you have to offset $1 of employment income. Once your Working Credit balance reaches zero your income support payment will start to reduce.

Example

Janine has been getting Newstart Allowance for 8 months without earning any income. Janine has built up 800 Working Credits.

Janine starts a full time job earning $1,000 per fortnight. In the first fortnight the 800 Working Credits reduce the amount we count as income from $1,000 to $200. This means Janine gets some Newstart Allowance for that fortnight. Janine’s Working Credit balance is zero.

The next fortnight all of Janine’s income will count and reduce Janine’s Newstart Allowance to zero.

When your payments stop

We stop paying you if your income is over the cut off point and you’ve run out of Working Credits.

You may keep your concession card and some other benefits for up to 12 weeks. This may include:

Regular deductions using Centrepay

Green Army Programme

About the Program

The Green Army Programme is administered by the Department of the Environment. It gives you the skills, training and experience to improve your employment prospects. The projects you participate in generate real and lasting benefits for the environment and heritage places.

You can apply if you are:

aged 17 to 24 years

an Australian citizen or permanent resident of Australia, and

a school leaver, gap year student, graduate, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian, person with disability, or an unemployed job seeker

If you’re aged 25 years or older and identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian, you may still be able to apply. Your knowledge of Indigenous culture may help towards successful Green Army projects.

You do not have to apply for, or be receiving, any of our payments to apply for the Green Army Programme. Read more about the Green Army and how to apply for positions on the Department of the Environment website.

Tell us if you are participating

You must tell us if you receive an income support payment and will be participating in the Green Army. This is to ensure you do not incur a debt with us.

You will be advised in writing if you are accepted into the Green Army. You need to bring this letter into a service centre within 14 days of starting the Program. Failing to tell us may result in an overpayment that you will need to repay.

Green Army participation affects your payments

Your partner’s payments

The income you earn by participating in the Green Army could affect your partner’s payments. Contact us to find out more.

Income support payments

If you join the Green Army full time, your income support payment will be put on hold. You will receive an allowance from your Green Army Service Provider.

If you join the Green Army part time, you may be able to choose to either continue receiving your income support payment or get a pro-rata allowance from your Green Army Service Provider.

This may apply if you:

are a principal carer

have a partial capacity to work, or

are an early school leaver and have part time requirements because you are a principal carer or have a partial capacity to work

If you continue receiving your income support payment, you will also get an Approved Program of Work Supplement of $20.80 per fortnight. If you are not sure which option is better for you, please ask us.

This will not affect you if you are participating part time and continue to receive your income support payment.

Mobility Allowance

You may be eligible for Mobility Allowance to help with travel if you cannot use public transport without substantial assistance due to disability, illness or injury.

Meeting your Mutual Obligation Requirements

While you are participating in the Green Army you will be meeting your Mutual Obligation Requirements. You can stay in contact with your Employment Services Provider for support if you wish. You may still need to attend appointments with us.

Restarting a payment after your placement ends

When your Green Army placement ends you should tell us if you want to get an income support payment again. Your Green Army Service Provider will give you a cessation advice, which you should bring into a service centre within 14 days of finishing your placement.

This information is a general guide to our payments and services from www.humanservices.gov.au. It is based on user selections from the ‘customise and print’ option. It may not include all of the information on this topic.

This information was printed on 27 September 2017 from https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/youth-allowance

It is subject to the website disclaimer at https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/site-notices